Media - Children of Alcoholics Week 2010 14-20 February
Press Release – 12 February 2010
For Immediate Release
Celebrities Support Children of Alcoholics Week
14-20 February 2010
Calum Best, Belinda Carlisle, Geraldine James, Elle Macpherson, Kim Woodburn and Anthony Worrall Thompson have given their backing to Children of Alcoholics Week in support of the 920,000 children carrying the burden of a parent’s drinking in the UK today.
Growing up with a problem drinker in the family can have a lasting effect on the entire family.
“As children we were never allowed to talk openly about our mother’s drinking. I remember my brother being slapped very hard when he asked my father if she was drunk – “never use that word in this house again”. I grew up feeling ashamed, frightened, lost, guilty and lonely; feeling un-confident, unsafe, un-listened to, unprotected, unloved, un-loveable; feeling there was no one there, inside or out.” Geraldine James, OBE
“It’s a hidden topic and the more we can reach out to the children and young adults suffering, the better their futures can be.” Calum Best
Children of Alcoholics Week [www.coaweek.org.uk] is a campaign led by The National Association for Children of Alcoholics (Nacoa) [www.nacoa.org.uk] to raise awareness of the problems faced by these children and to let them know that there is help and support.
Co-founder of Nacoa, Hilary Henriques, asks you to put yourself in a COAs shoes, just for one moment and you’ll start to understand the fearful shadow they often live under. “Imagine coming home from school and dreading what you might find. Imagine having no friends because you’re too embarrassed to bring them home in case Mum or Dad are drunk, or worse. Imagine living in a home full of fear and having no one to turn to because everyone denies there’s a problem.”
“He’s broken promises. Sometimes he staggers, shouts and yells. I can’t bring any friends home from school because of him. He wants control over everything, or he’s collapsed drunk. I can’t do anything right.”
Anna (12)
“If I could find a really good hiding place I could be on my own forever”
Claire (7)
Nacoa’s helpline provides a vital service to the estimated 3.7 million young and adult children of alcohol-dependent parents in the UK, many of whom would otherwise live in isolation and without support. Contact with Nacoa can really help these children come to terms with what’s happening to them:
“I rang your line last year, when I could not take it any longer and I will never forget the lady who chatted to me for two hours and calmed me down by actually understanding where I was coming from. As my friends and family never did.” Jane (17)
In 2009 Nacoa received over 30,000 helpline calls.
Please help publicise this important event.
Further information and quotes from the celebrities are available.
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Contact:
Cassie Ohlson
Volunteer co-ordinator
Co-ordinator of COA Week
0117 924 8005
coaweek@nacoa.org.uk
Hilary Henriques
CEO
Co-ordinator of COA Week
0117 924 8005
ceo@nacoa.org.uk
Editors Notes: *
- Children of Alcoholics Week is celebrated internationally during the week in which Valentine’s Day falls. 2010 is the 2nd year the event has been held in the UK. The website www.coaweek.org.uk offers suggestions of ways to get involved and contains downloadable resources.
- There are an estimated 920,000 children (under 18s) living with one or two alcohol dependent parents in the UK today.
- Children living with parental alcoholism are three times as likely to become dependent on alcohol or drugs themselves and are three times as likely to consider suicide in childhood and later as adults.
- Aggression within the family environment is 6 times more common when parents suffer from alcoholism.
- Nacoa (registered charity no. 1009143) was founded to provide information, advice and support for children of alcohol dependent parents via a helpline 0800 358 3456 and website www.nacoa.org.uk
- Further information on other presenting problems commonly faced by COAs is available.
* Source: The National Association for Children of Alcoholics.
